Monthly Archives: July 2015

Thought you couldn’t get enough of Joe Gould. Here’s a good piece by Jill Lepore in the week’s New Yorker. 

[Photo Credit: Culver Pictures]

The Champ.

Painting by Robert Shetterly. 

Food 52 gives a tasty cherce of summer beverages.

Here comes that girl again.

[Photo Credit: Alain Laboile via TIH]

Andrew Miller gave up a solo home run to Chris Davis with two men out in the 9th inning last night because he didn’t want to end this odd little streak of one-run games. The homer narrowed the Yankees lead to 4-3 which is where it stayed when Jonathan Schoop struck out to end the game for the second game in a row against Miller.

Mark Teixeira hit a two-run home run early, and Alex Rodriguez hit the bejesus out of the ball later on for a solo home run which proved to be the difference.

Meanwhile, Teixeria continued to make nice plays in the field, with smooth, agile scoops of throws in the dirt. His fielding excellence is common enough to take for granted but it should be said that while Gardner and Rodriguez have had nice seasons, Teixeira has been their best player. Never would have called that at the start of the year.

Stephen Drew also had a beautiful defensive play, diving to his left to stop a ball in short right field. He gathered himself on his knees and quickly made an accurate throw to Ivan Nova covering the bag for the out. Play like that is why they’ve kept him around I suppose.

Picture by Bags

Wonder if it’ll be another one run game?

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brett Gardner LF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann C
Carlos Beltran RF
Chase Headley 3B
Didi Gregorius SS
Stephen Drew 2B

And our dude Nova.

Never mind prosperity:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Kline.

From Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York comes this post about homelessness and Jack Kerouac. 

[Photo Credit: Euan Slorach via Animal New York]

The Yanks have won 3 of 4 since the break, all by one run (the game they lost was by a run, too). We could point to certain plays and performances that’ve contributed to the wins, we could talk about fortitude, grit and character, and we can also sit back and just feel fortunate that luck has been on the  Yankees’ side. Because the difference between being 0-4, 4-0 sure feels slender, don’t it? And as we well know, it won’t last.

Nathan Eovaldi was pretty good again–touched 100 mph a few times–but failed to go deep in the game. The firm of Wilson, Betances, and Miller handled the rest, with a nice 9th inning fielding assist from Mark Teixeira. Chase Headley and Brendan Ryan had key hits as the Yanks edged out the O’s in a tough game, 3-2.

Many of us didn’t expect much from this Yankee team at the start of the season but now they are playing well enough so if they tank the rest of the way we won’t be shocked but certainly disappointed.

Picture by Bags

The Big Question Mark takes the hill against the Orioles tonight.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Chris Young RF

Chase Headley 3B

Didi Gregorius SS

Brendan Ryan 2B

Never mind the moisture:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Pop.

We all scream…I always liked the strawberry shortcake jammie.

Painting by Oriana Kacicek via TIH.

Thanks to the essential weekly newsletter, The Sunday Long Read (compiled with taste and care by Don Van Natta Jr. and Jacob Feldman), I found Alex Bilmes’ excellent British Esquire  interview with Paul McCartney:

ESQ: Was fame all it was cracked up to be, when you found it?

PM: It sort of was really, yeah. Because part of what it’s cracked up to be is difficult as well as great. They’d warned that. I remember making a very conscious choice: “OK, we’re getting really famous now, you’ve got to decide, whether or not to go for it.” For some reason Marilyn Monroe came into my mind. Like: this could be horrible. It was actually after a trip to Greece. We weren’t famous in Greece, and I’d hung out with the hotel band and was chatting to them: “I’m in a band, too, you know? We’re called The Beatles.” And I got a glazed look from them. I thought, “This is OK, if the fame gets too much we can always come to Greece.” Then, of course, the next year it was like, “Oh, no, you’re famous in Greece, too. Oh, God.” And I remember thinking, “Do you want to do this or don’t you?” And it was, “I like it too much to stop.”

ESQ: Some people struggle greatly with being famous. It screws them up. You seem to have taken to fame with a certain amount of ease. You embraced it.

PM: I think to some degree that’s true. What happens is, if your life goes wrong, like with the breakup of The Beatles, then fame is a nightmare because you can’t escape it, and you’ve created it. That’s when the difficulty kicks in. But what you’re saying is, some people it kicks in anyway, even if they’re doing all right.

ESQ: They can’t handle the attention.

PM: I don’t mind that. I have a joke with my daughter Mary: sometimes I won’t be in a great mood and we’ll go somewhere and the people will be all over me and she’ll turn to Nancy and say, “He likes a bit of adulation. It cheers him up,” and the thing is, yep, that is true. All my life I’ve been trying to win a school prize or trying to do OK in an exam or trying to get a good job. I’ve always been trying to do something where people go: you’re good. When you get it, it seems a shame to me to go, oh, shit. To me it’s like, this is what I wanted. I do like it, I must say. The attention’s never really bothered me. I’ve always thought, “OK, you’re famous, you’ve chosen that path. You can’t blame anyone else.” As long as you’re enjoying it that’s good. And when it goes wrong you’re just going to have to deal with it.

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[Photo Credit: Linda McCartney via Everyday I Show]

You remember the Pedro formula, right? Stay close, chase him from the game, win it late against the bullpen.

Welp, that’s just what the Yanks did to King Felix and the Mariners  yesterday. C.C. Sabathia allowed one run, so did Hernandez.

It came to this: Game tied, bottom of the 8th, two outs and two strikes to Mark Teixeira who then lines a 98 mph Fernando Rodney fastball over the fence in right field.

That was enough to give the Yanks a 2-1 win, thanks to the combined relief efforts from the firm of Wilson, Betances and Miller.

Each game this weekend was decided by a run; pleased that the Yanks came out on top. Even happier for The Big Fella. 

Picture by Bags

Remember me? Robbie Cano from the Bronx?

Cano beat the Yanks yesterday, 4-3.

Today is broiling hot and the Yanks have the misfortune of facing King Felix. They beat him once this year. Something tells me they won’t do it again.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brett Gardner LF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann C
Carlos Beltran RF
Chase Headley 3B
Didi Gregorius SS
Stephen Drew 2B

Never mind the heat index:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

It’s Big Mike this afternoon on an overcast day in the Bronx.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brett Gardner LF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Brian McCann C
Chase Headley 3B
Garrett Jones RF
Didi Gregorius SS
Rob Refsnyder 2B

Never mind the humidity:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

I got home last night, set to watch the game. The Wife had tentative evening plans with a friend but they fell through. So I put her in the car and we headed down to Manhattan in search of food. We’d heard of a decent Thai place in Hell’s Kitchen so there we were, against all common sense, stuck in Friday night, stand-still traffic.

But we had John and Suzyn and the game. Masahiro Tanaka gave up a couple of home runs but otherwise pitched well.

We finally parked, got to the place, and had a lousy meal. But we were so hungry by that point it didn’t matter. And although our little adventure didn’t completely kick the funk out of The Wife’s mood, it didn’t make it worse either, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Afterwards, we walked up 9th Ave, right around where my mother used to come 40 years ago to the spice district to buy all of her dry spices, when we passed a small cigar store called NYC Fine Cigars. The door was open and the smell of cigar smoke rolled out onto the street. A group of men sat on chairs, puffing away. A TV hung from the wall and as we passed I caught Alex Rodriguez circling the bases. I poked my head in and asked, “Is this live?”

The men said yes, and suddenly, our forgettable dinner was made better. Didn’t hurt a moment later when we saw a skinny but hairy Hispanic man dressed in skivvies, a tie dye tank top, and a floppy woman’s hat, saunter past us, doing what looked like a cross between Tai chi and the Cha Cha. In his own world, doing his own thing, a glimpse of the crazy old days in a sea of tourists and freshly-scrubbed young folks.

We listened to the final couple of innings on the radio as we sailed up the West Side Highway and got home just in time to see Andrew Miller strike out pinch-hitter–and former Yankee, Jesus Montero–ending the night with a pair of merciless sliders.

Final Score: Yanks 4, M’s 3.

[Photo Via: Paper Blog]

And it’s about time. Yanks host the M’s. Tonight gives our fella, Masahiro.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF

Brett Gardner LF

Alex Rodriguez DH

Mark Teixeira 1B

Brian McCann C

Chris Young RF

Chase Headley 3B

Didi Gregorious SS

Rob Refsnyder 2B

Never mind the rust:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Please stand clear of the closing doors.

Get on the bus….for our dude Chyll Will, some BDP for a Friday.

Picture by Zhang Jia Wu via This Isn’t Happiness.